English

Etymology
1865, from F. philatélie, coined by French stamp collector Georges Herpin (in Le Collectionneur de Timbres-poste, Nov. 15, 1864) from AGr. �ιλο- (philo-, love of) + ��έλεια (atelīa), the closest word he could find in Ancient Greek to the concept of "postage stamp" (from a- "without" + telos "tax"). This word serves as a reminder of the original function of postage stamps, now often forgotten: the cost of letter-carrying formerly was paid by the recipient; stamps indicated it had been pre-paid by the sender, thus the letters were "carriage-free".

Noun
en-noun|-

1. stamp|Stamp collecting.
2. The study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history, etc.

Related terms
philatelic
philatelist

Translations

Danish: filateli
French: philatélie f
mid
German: Philatelie f
Swedish: filateli c

Category:Philately|*

es:philately
fr:philately
io:philately
la:philately
pl:philately
fi:philately
vi:philately
zh:philately

• 2007-10-04 23:57 - Krun - cleanup

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